#poc of the first couple seasons like.... guys?

[fagsex]

i domt like tenmartha cuz she deserves better #feminist

[dimplyowl]

You know, I really wonder what my thoughts would be on Izzy if there wasn’t an entire subset of the fandom that was deluded that he’s actually the main character and is the victim in this entire thing, because you know what? My first couple watchthroughs I didn’t really care about him. I didn’t like him. But I was just kind of like “hey that’s an interesting character and he sucks and I wonder where they’re gonna go with him next season” and that was about it.

And then I learned about them and saw the kinds of takes they had on Ed and Izzy’s relationship and the gross take that Ed is abusive when we only ever see Ed responding to what other people, izzy included, do to him, not instigating and trying to hurt people.

And it wasn’t until then that I started to actually hate him, and the way people were making allowances for his behavior, behavior that is the same as behavior shown by the Badmintons and Stede’s father toward Stede, and the way the story was being twisted to make the poc the bad guy, when Izzy is very clearly an antagonist in s1.

I had even read the occasional steddyhands, if it was by an author I liked. And now I don’t want him anywhere near my boys. Not unless there’s some kind of textual acknowledgement of all the shit he pulled (and sorry, but even the deathbed apology in canon just wasn’t enough for me, though at least it was something).

But I just wonder, what would I think about him if I hadn’t seen people talking like Izzy was a victim and thought “well now that doesn’t seem right”. Cause I can tell you for sure that before all this, I didn’t give two shits about him either way and I hate that now I have to overcompensate for the apologists because of takes like that. like i get liking a villain. i actually fucking love Ricky and wish we had gotten more of him in s2. the difference is that I'm not over here talking about how poor Ricky was abandoned and lost his nose and his plan to destroy all pirates was swindled and how sad that is and how depressing that stede was a bitch to him. I'm just over here enjoying that he sucks and that i hope he gets what he deserves in s3 (because I'm fully deluded that s3 is still coming).

[ultfreakme]

The only thing about NATLA Kataang that confuses me is that Netflix hasn’t been promoting it at all? I’ve seen them promote clips about every single relationship, romantic or platonic, but I haven’t seen them promote any Kataang, which is really odd because Katara’s speech to Aang is kind of the penultimate moment of the finale. So I’m just kind of stumped on that. Any insight?

I think they're doing it for a couple of reasons.

They left out Kataang because of the age difference, so in the show, Kataang isn't there in any overt level. All questions in interviews have been about the Netflix adaptation and events. I think I have seen platonic Kataang promo though. The only real duo they promote are Zuko and Iroh, Gaang falls into a trio, and there's very little I've seen on Sukka and Yuekka (they don't even ask about the romances in interviews). So there's just, no need to promote it yet and they're ignoring the romance for all characters for the most part.

The actors are young, like, in school young. When the ship isn't confirmed yet but they talk about Kataang, it might lead to shipping wars getting into their mentions. Idk about the PJO fandom but I know Percabeth is very present in the show & they promote it, but I'm p.sure everyone is unanimous on Percabeth being a thing, no one's fighting it so they can more safely go about it without people getting in their mentions. Kataang though, garners attention from people engaging in ship wars. To the point they asked the show runner about it and even HE, a grown man, said he didn't want to talk about it and avoided it implying that it's been going on too long(and then talked about the Kataang scene). The ship wars in ATLA are brutal and the kids really don't need to be exposed to that. Like already I've seen people being very weird about Dallas and Kia and dismissing Gordon entirely because he's "too baby" or "not handsome enough" and that people are waiting for Kia to turn 18 to "ship her with Dallas" gross gross barf even typing it made me feel disgusting (about a million stereotypes about POC and indigenous people and young girls and boys are at play here and I am appalled). I think this is why Zukka of all things is being promoted on any official capacity (more than Sukka or Yuekka): it's not gonna be real and no one thinks it has a chance, it's harmless. If any ship war harm does come they can handle it, and baiting always brings views and it's mostly harmless since they play it off as fun anyways (like no one is legit upset, most are rolling their eyes or know what's happening and playing along).

Kataang in Netflix right now, would be considered spoilers. They still promote Zuko as the villain in interviews(or at least, bad guy antagonist). They don't mention any season 2 things or future storylines. If they get more into it in season 2, I'm sure the talks will begin. We have to keep in mind that many people watching NATLA might not know what Avatar is about, what the dynamics are. This is their first intro to the world. So they're keeping all cards close to their chest I guess.

[booasaur]

Not a surprise or a coincidence that two show with lesbian couple have been cancelled S19 and NCIS, almost in the same month and now on lesbian visibility week, they really hate us!

And another anon:

gahhh so sad ncis Hawaii was cancelled 😢 I really thought they had the green light for a fourth season. Feels really bleak for a show doing so well to be cancelled. Was it really just the wlw rep that killed it?

It really is upsetting. And I WAS surprised, anon! Not so much by S19, seven years is a long time and with 9-1-1 moving to ABC, it was a long shot they would keep both. But NCIS were supposed to be safe! All through the rest of the cancelations these last couple years, I'd think, well, at least NCIS Hawai'i will be fine. Look at the longevity of these series (cancelled in red):

It was a baby! It didn't even get a proper season 3, with the strike.

And to be replaced with what? The conservative safety of an origin story of the franchise's first main white guy and a show with also a long-running popular m/f couple, where one lead's a Mossad agent and the other's played by an abuser?

As with the BYG trend, it's not just the loss of representation that's so unsettling, it's the awareness that this is a bellwether for society at large. If there's no longer the same safety in writing us in as there's been in even these last few years, which hadn't reached any kind of parity, that's kind of worrying.

As for whether they hate us or if these were cancelled because of the wlw rep? While these last few years have given us an especially intimate look into the kind of openly terrible men in all kinds of powerful positions, from Elon to Zaslav, I think at this level this is mostly a business decision, which is almost worse? In the same way that a bunch of corporations decided it was good business to start marketing to us during Pride was, pulling back also indicates how they think things are going.

And how they think things are going is also pretty crucial here, because there are a lot of biases at play too. During the 2016 BYGs, it wasn't so much a matter of bad trends for us at large (at the time, lol, the bulk of them happened in spring and summer), it was more a culmination of a bunch of writers going "I have no use for this wlw character and can create drama from a death", more a disinterest than an actual hate. While I don't think networks are cancelling whole shows based on f/f ships not even involving leads, I think there are still some things to consider here:

First, it's simply more likely that significant wlw rep will be on a show that's more diverse in general. THAT might get a target on their back in this climate. It's not just queer rep but POC-led shows getting cancelled in high numbers too.

Secondly, that disinterest in queer rep means there's no real buy-in or championing of these shows, you know? Where an exec might have fought for another show, really believed in it, they're okay with letting this one go. Like, that's not where they see a big success.

There suddenly seem to be so few ongoing shows in general, I think any kind of course correction will have to take that into account, but hopefully it's sooner rather than later.

[lnkedmyheart]

How to cover up your blatant misogyny towards a female character because she comes in the way of your mlm ship-

-Pretend/delude yourself that she never had any development with her main love interest for multiple seasons.

-insist that she should have gone back to her "one true love", the guy who was actively using her and her feelings for his shitty ambitions of colonizing her people.

-insist that she's rebounding from the toxic and extremely problematic ex by going to the guy who treats her well. All the while insisting that the guy will 'realize his true feelings' are for another guy after getting turned down by his female crush because then it's not rebound. Wait? What do you mean double standards?

-ignore alll the actual shitty writing decisions and make up random shit that never happened because Lord forbid you admit to yourself that you played yourself despite your main mlm ship never even interacting past the first couple seasons.

-make claims about misogyny and racism from the showrunners and act like the female character was done a disservice when really it's just you trying to cover the fact that you legit cheered when the girl died and saw it as a set up for a future possibility of the boy ending up with the dude you want him to fuck. Oh and this same opinion extended to the disabled poc dude but we don't talk about that.

[rigginsstreet]

Lucas's treatment being shit after 4 seasons is just horrible and the way they treated Erica in this season too? And you know the show will never focus on their characters and actual struggles ever, they are literally the only poc we have on the show aside from argyle aka the token funny mexican and kali who virtually got removed from the show. Robin as you said ais written like a sidepiece to a man aka steve, vickie barely was given any screentime or personality we dont even know anything virtually personal about her, also funny af that they couldnt even bother giving vickie and argyle a surname... will's character is trashed in each season with a less amount of screentime on the show. We will likely get vickie and robin as the only queer couple on the show which will happen only in the last season meanwhile the straight ships had at least 3-4 seasons of romance stories and content and screentime dedicated to them. Stancy teasing in s4 has more screentime than the potential queer wlw couple. Like bitch exit your ao3 world where you created an artifical version of the show. The duffers are mediocre writers and your average white men but fandom likes getting obssessed over your typical white men so ofc they will eat any shit these guys will put on their table.

It is soooo funny how this fandom loves to throw around how billy fans is what happens when “straight girls stan white man” but then has literally ZERO self awareness of what the fuck they’re doing. First of all y’all latched onto Eddie for no goddamn good reason cuz that’s one of the worst characters I’ve ever seen in my life. All your other faves on this show? White as Casper. Y’all can’t even hold the white men writing absolute garbage accountable for their terrible writing so like…. Y’all can’t even hide behind stanning the female characters as being any better cuz they all suffer from white woman syndrome and I say this as a white woman.

Seasons 1 and 2 were the only noteworthy seasons and people either cling to that and ignore that trash fire the show became OR its these new fans that jumped on when the show already sucked but they were already brainwashed into thinking stranger things was MEANT to be a goofy unserious comedy hour reminiscent of fucking riverdale which has rotted an entire generations brains. This fandoms critical thinking skills is just collectively embarrassing quite frankly

[mxtantrights]

aisle 4 (Steve rogers x poc!reader)

when you two first meet he thinks you are breathtaking and normal. Which is two words he wouldn't say out loud at first in fear of freaking you out or insulting you. He liked normal. Normal was good.

he sees you somewhere local. The grocery store that's three miles away from his place where he goes to escape from his ruminating mind.

aisle 4 which is pasta, sauces, beans, and ethnic seasonings.

When you see him you are a bit startled. Startled at two things.

One, its Steve Rogers. You've seen him on the news and on tv. He's THE guy. You didn't know THE guy did his own grocery shopping. You thought Tony Stark would totally just print out their groceries.

Two, it's Steve rogers in the ethnic section. He's just staring off into space. In front of him happens to be the very seasonings you need for your diner tonight.

You clear your throat to get his attention.

He looks at you and his eyes go wide.

"I didn't know spices could be that bewildering for some people." you causally joke.

he laughs at that, "sorry it’s not the spices. It’s just the day I had.”

you don't know how to respond to that. It's STEVE ROGERS so you just nod politely and point to the shelf as a way to ask him to give you space to get what you need.

He side steps and watches as you take a couple of packages and drop them into your cart. You reach for one more.

"I haven't seen you before." he says

"No you haven't." you answer.

You look at him with a big smile plastered on your face, bottle of spice in tow. He is gobsmacked.

"Sorry, this is probably weird. I should-" he points behind him and starts moving in that direction. Away from you.

"You haven't seen me before but I have seen you before. Which is weird already so I had to level the playing field." you casually shrug.

he laughs heartily. Like puts his hand on his chest and closes his eyes, the works. If you didn't know any better you would say that Steve rogers was really receptive to your humor.

"can I see you outside of this grocery store?" he asks.

"You can watch me walk out, sure." you joke back.

He smiles, "Right."

"Or you can watch me walk out with your number. Your choice." you offer.

At the speed of light Steve is patting down his pants looking for pen and paper like an idiot. but then he pats his phone and fishes it out. He unlocks it and offers it over.

You take it from him and input your number. Then you hand it back to him. Your fingers brush for the slightest moments and that makes you nervous.

It hits you then that this isn't some hallucination or dream. It's real. He's real. And he has your number in his phone.

He raises his phone up to you, "I'll text you sometime this week."

"Or I can just find you in the spice aisle sometime." you answer.

[resplendentgoldenwings]

I haven't been on tumblr much these days but on this Sunday past I realized I had been seeing a lot of post about IWTV, both the book and the 1994 movie. And I was like why am I seeing all this IWTV on my dash? Is there a new movie or something? I'd heard about the plans for a TV series a couple years back and completely forgotten about that.

Anyway I decided to check the tags out of curiosity and spent the next 48 hours utterly obsessed.

There's the trailer I saw if for some reason you still haven't seen it yet. Now I used to love the VC back in the day. The books were fun, erotic, and Anne Rice was a pretty good writer if a bit verbose at points and Lestat is a fantastic character. If you don't know the VC, The Vampire Chronicles are the main reason vampires with like human emotions and souls have become so popular.

So I spent the next 48 hours devouring everything I could for this new show. If I wasn't working or doing something that needed to be done I was scouring the internet for any and everything to do with AMC's Interview With the Vampire and I have some thoughts.

First I am super excited for this show, like forreal, y'all have no idea. The shit looks amazing, the directing, the costuming, the setting all of it looks on point. Things have been changed, but the spirit remains the same. Like look at that trailer and tell me everything important and essential about Louis Pointe Du Lac and Lestat De Lioncourt has not been captured.

But that said I want to talk a bit about some of the changes that have been made.

So in case you're wondering that picture of Jacob Anderson is Louis and yes he is black. Now this caught me a little off guard, like in the span of two seconds I learned that there was a new IWTV show and Louis was being played by that guy above. I immediately found the change intriguing.

That's Brad Pitt as Louis Pointe Du Lac in the 1994 film. He spent most of the movie being sad and beautiful and worming his way further into all of our teenaged hearts. He also very much does fit the description of Louis in the books, so, of course, some people are mad about this.

This isn't surprising. If you've been watching tv over the past 15 years, ever since Olivia Pope banged a president and Empire spent like 7 seasons as Fox's #1 show networks have been trying with varying degrees of success to put POC, especially Black people in more leading roles and some people really don't like that.

As a black woman I have mixed feelings about it. I have zero problems with character's having their races changed for the sake of diversity unless, of course, the character's race shapes the story in some important way. Which is why I paused when I found out about the casting. Louis Pointe Du Lac was a slave owner back in 1769, a wealthy one with two plantations.

There would have been a few Black Americans who owned slaves back then and even fewer that got rich from it. But already problematic Jacob Anderson playing a Louis that owned slaved would be especially distasteful. So instead the setting is changed. It's 1910 and Louis is a brothel owner.

Now some of the critics have used the idea of Louis as a pimp as some type of gotcha moment and I get it. They made this character Black and promptly made him a criminal??? Not quite, much like slavery in 1769 in 1910 New Orleans it wasn't illegal to own a brothel or do sex work.

So he's not a criminal and he's apparently grown extremely wealthy from running brothels. That doesn't make it okay, of course, but I imagine that's kind of the point. In this instance owning brothels could be considered analogous owning plantations. They're not the same but ya' know tomato, tomato.

Louis and his family, siblings and parents look like they are doing very well in the trailers. It's important that Louis have money because as he starts to doubt Lestat's feelings for him Louis comes to believe that Lestat is with him for the money. Oh Louis!

Now the usual suspects aren't the only ones bothered by the idea of Louis being a brothel owner some find it genuinely uncomfortable to have a sympathetic character doing bad things and some genuinely feel that it plays into a stereotype, which is part of why I want to offer my opinion.

Characters aren't meant to be perfect not even the POC ones. Characters need depth, they need flaws, they need vices and damn it when you change a character's race to diversify a story some things can and should change but the essence, the spirit of the character should stay the same.

He can't be an aspiration trophy, mortal Louis needs to acquire his wealth in an exploitative way, he needs to be a flawed character with room to grow.

You may still be uncomfortable with idea and certainly everyone is entitled to their opinion but it's flaws and vices that make characters relatable and beloved, its flaws and vices that make them feel real and human and its their flaws and vices that maybe sometimes teach something about ourselves.

Other Changes

Louis also seems to be somewhat more assertive and have more agency. I think that's smart. The other thing that bothered me with the race change was the already slanted power dynamic between the two being that much worse. To do this day in the African-American community one of the biggest concerns for us in interracial dating is the social power dynamic. Racism can become that much more dangerous if you're involved with an abusive white person. And well we all know what Louis says about his relationship with Lestat...

I do also think that Louis being Black and successful would simply have to be tougher more assertive person. I don't imagine he inherited the brothels and generational wealth and even if he did it's going to be a fight for a black family to keep that kind of wealth in 1910.

So with all these changes you might be wondering how can he possibly be the same. Well in many ways he's not but when you consider Louis' purpose in the story as a character, his core, his ability to drive the narrative home all Louis Pointe Du Lac needs to do is grieve, feel guilty and ashamed about things that were out of his control, be a bit of a liar and be really, really pretty in the face. From the trailers it certainly looks to me like Jacob Anderson's Louis is all of those things.

[literatikoo]

Lane Kim deserved better

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I would only write Lane Kim meta when I am very very angry because I need to be powered by spite and petty energy to unravel exactly how much of a disservice this show was to Lane and by extension any Asian kid with a similar life. And, well, it's happening now, so buckle up kids, this is going to be a loooong ride because I have a lot to say.

Before we start on the negative aspects, the show got a lot of things about Lane right, which is why I care so much about her character. Yes, ASP obviously didn't know how to write a POC experience and it's seen in the way some very harmful stereotypes were propagated (the tiger mom trope, Mrs Kim's religious beliefs, the depiction of the Kim extended family etc) but at the same time Lane was beautifully written as a character, unlike her plot which left much to be desired. Lane Kim was an Asian girl with rock n roll dreams who had an extremely fraught relationship with her mother and had to fight for even a semblance of independence. And I hate to say it but a lot of daughters of Asian households are forced to hide a part of themselves from their families, so Lane's story was authentic.

Not only was Lane amazing as an individual, she was also a great friend. She was the only one who was really in Rory's corner; she never judged her and supported all of Rory's relationships (my favourite example of this is when she barely tolerated Jess in S2/3 and then did a complete 180 like 5 episodes later, all because Rory decided to finally accept she liked him). Lane never pointed out what Rory was doing wrong not because she was afraid of doing so but because the two of them had been friends for years and Lane believed that Rory would figure it out one day. Lane shows this unconditional kindness not only to Rory but to everyone. She takes in her Korean cousin and teaches her to have fun even when she's afraid that Mrs Kim has replaced her, she lets Gil be in the band because she empathises with him, she takes care of the band and prevents it from breaking up multiple times. And these are only a few examples of Lane being the kindest character on GG.

One of the best things in Gilmore Girls is that the most unproblematic, amazing guy is given to Lane. Dave Rygalski is the best love interest on the show hands down (Sorry to my boy Jess but Dave was LEAGUES ahead of him at 17) and Lane definitely deserved someone like that. Their story was adorable and I would have loved for them to be endgame. However, what grates me is that when I see people talking about Lane "deserving better," it's usually about Dave vs Zach. When Lane actually deserved better as a WHOLE and not only in terms of love interests. I always thought it made more sense for her to end up alone at the end of the og series. Because Lane was a person who craved independence and she was not going to get that while tied to some guy (even if that guy is boyfriend extraordinaire, Dave Rygalski). It's even worse when we see that Lane is the only female character on the show to be treated this way. Rory rejects marriage for her career while Lane ends up with marriage as her storyline. Lorelai and Luke get back together but their relationship is still left open ended, though arguably it would've made more sense if they got married when Lane and Zach did. Paris gets into Harvard Medical school and gets a great relationship, similarly Sookie gets the family she wanted and continues to be amazing at her job. But Lane... god Lane is the only one without an open ending, without any space for speculation of where her life might lead her. Not only did they marry her off, they also gave her a terrible first time and twins, effectively locking her to Stars Hollow. The show even cut down all hope of her being a rock n roll mom as one of her S7 storylines is choosing the kids over going on tour with Zach. She doesn't get to be her own person for more than ONE season; she's stuck with being a daughter and then a wife and then a mother.

Something else that angers me about Lane's storyline is that we never really get to see how badly her relationship with her mom affects her. Don't get me wrong, I adore Mrs Kim's redemption arc and I think it was beautifully juxtaposed to Lorelai and Rory's crumbling relationship, but having a mother like that is hard. Not only did Lane have to hide 90% of her personality from Mrs Kim but she also lived with the fact that one day she might have to choose between her dreams and her mother. In the end, Mrs Kim makes that choice for her and deals with it by kicking Lane out in S4, and yet we never really see how that negatively affects Lane. Hell, Jess acts like a broody teen for two seasons, Rory wastes six months of her life away at the DAR and they both come out of it successfully. Lane gets kicked out, figures out her own living conditions, gets a job, works insanely hard for her band and... ends up having to give her dreams up completely.

Lane and Paris shared a lot of similarities too, even if they both had different friendships with Rory. They both came from terrible families and looked to Lorelai as a mother figure, they both cared deeply for Rory, and they were both incredibly passionate about their careers. Paris made calendars and flashcards and went crazy studying for both pre med and pre law. Lane was a walking, talking music encyclopaedia, she bought CDs obsessively and organised them by genre under her floorboards, she taught herself to play the drums and then found a band to play for. And yet... only Paris becomes successful in the end, whereas Lane takes over Kim's antiques. Lane was still a musician in AYITL and she can be rock n roll even with kids but this is all hypothetical and we never see it on the show.

There is a lot of terrible, lazy writing on the show and a lot of characters get ruined because of it but with Lane, her character stays the same, they just ruin everything else for her. I think she'll be an amazing mom and will probably make her best out of doing music casually. But the writers also took something so special and destroyed it just because Lane stopped being as important to the plot as she was in seasons 1-3. Lane and Rory drifting a little after Rory leaves for Yale makes perfect sense, that's just how relationships are, always changing. And yet as Lane's importance to Rory decreased so did her importance to the writers.

Lane wasn't the kind of character that needed character development or a redeeming character arc- she was never a bad person and nothing about her had to be fixed, unlike Jess or even Paris. All she really needed was for her dreams to come true because for the first 4 seasons her dreams were the biggest fixture of her personality. Like how Jess needed to overcome his trauma and Rory needed to figure out where she fit in and Paris needed to become a girlboss, Lane needed to realise her dreams because that's where her arc was leading her. But it just didn't happen. Instead, Lane becomes 2-dimensional; a large part of her screentime is taken up by Zach problems, her dreams fall flat and she becomes tied to Stars Hollow for the rest of her life. Not to mention we see less of Lane in favour of Logan and the dickhead posse.

This is not me hating on all the other characters I've mentioned in this meta, I'm just pointing out the lack of respect the writers have for Lane in comparison to all these other people who fulfilled the role they were made for. Why would you write Lane to have all these dreams and make her struggle so hard for 4 seasons just to smash them to pieces? And why is it that one of the only POC characters on this show is treated like this?

And you can't tell me the writers didn't know what they were doing, not when this is a direct quote from Lane in S7:

"It was such a small window -- a peephole, really. For years, I was this repressed kid, and then there was the briefest of windows. And then -- slam. All of a sudden, I'm this overburdened mother. I barely got to do it, Zach. I barely got the chance to be a person."

[richincolor]

QPoC Reads of 2021

It's June! Which for me means Pride Month, staying cool with endless smoothies, and posting a round-up of LGBTQ PoC young adult reads. This year, let's take a look at some YA books centering QPoC characters that came out in 2021 so far... plus a couple launching this summer! Of course, this is by no means a comprehensive list. With that said, here we go!

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo Acclaimed author of Ash Malinda Lo returns with her most personal and ambitious novel yet, a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the Red Scare.

The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore When two teens discover that they were both sexually assaulted at the same party, they develop a cautious friendship through her family's possibly magical pastelería, his secret forest of otherworldly trees, and the swallows returning to their hometown, in Anna-Marie McLemore's The Mirror Season... Graciela Cristales's whole world changes after she and a boy she barely knows are assaulted at the same party. She loses her gift for making enchanted pan dulce. Neighborhood trees vanish overnight, while mirrored glass appears, bringing reckless magic with it. And Ciela is haunted by what happened to her, and what happened to the boy whose name she never learned. But when the boy, Lock, shows up at Ciela's school, he has no memory of that night, and no clue that a single piece of mirrored glass is taking his life apart. Ciela decides to help him, which means hiding the truth about that night. Because Ciela knows who assaulted her, and him. And she knows that her survival, and his, depend on no one finding out what really happened.

Zara Hossain Is Here by Sabina Khan Zara's family has waited years for their visa process to be finalized so that they can officially become US citizens. But it only takes one moment for that dream to come crashing down around them.

Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar Everyone likes Humaira "Hani" Khan—she’s easy going and one of the most popular girls at school. But when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her identity, saying she can’t be bi if she’s only dated guys. Panicked, Hani blurts out that she’s in a relationship…with a girl her friends absolutely hate—Ishita "Ishu" Dey. Ishu is the complete opposite of Hani. She’s an academic overachiever who hopes that becoming head girl will set her on the right track for college. But Ishita agrees to help Hani, if Hani will help her become more popular so that she stands a chance of being elected head girl.Despite their mutually beneficial pact, they start developing real feelings for each other. But relationships are complicated, and some people will do anything to stop two Bengali girls from achieving happily ever after.

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee Felix Ever After meets Becky Albertalli in this swoon-worthy, heartfelt rom-com about how a transgender teen’s first love challenges his ideas about perfect relationships.

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé Out now, as of yesterday! (or June 10th in the UK!) Gossip Girl meets Get Out in Ace of Spades, a YA contemporary thriller by debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé about two students, Devon & Chiamaka, and their struggles against an anonymous bully.

Love & Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura Out June 8th! When Nozomi Nagai pictured the ideal summer romance, a fake one wasn’t what she had in mind. That was before she met the perfect girl. Willow is gorgeous, glamorous, and…heartbroken? And when she enlists Nozomi to pose as her new girlfriend to make her ex jealous, Nozomi is a willing volunteer. Because Nozomi has a master plan of her own: one to show Willow she’s better than a stand-in, and turn their fauxmance into something real. But as the lies pile up, it’s not long before Nozomi’s schemes take a turn toward disaster…and maybe a chance at love she didn’t plan for.

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta Out June 29th Two girls on opposite sides of a war discover they're fighting for a common purpose--and falling for each other--in Zoe Hana Mikuta's high-octane debut Gearbreakers, perfect for fans of Pacific Rim, Pierce Brown's Red Rising Saga, and Marie Lu's Legend series.

Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson Out July 6th! Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival. Olivia is an expert at falling in love . . . and at being dumped. But after the fallout from her last breakup has left her an outcast at school and at home, she’s determined to turn over a new leaf. A crush-free weekend at Farmland Music and Arts Festival with her best friend is just what she needs to get her mind off the senior year that awaits her. Toni is one week away from starting college, and it’s the last place she wants to be. Unsure about who she wants to become and still reeling in the wake of the loss of her musician-turned-roadie father, she’s heading back to the music festival that changed his life in hopes that following in his footsteps will help her find her own way forward. When the two arrive at Farmland, the last thing they expect is to realize that they’ll need to join forces in order to get what they’re searching for out of the weekend. As they work together, the festival becomes so much more complicated than they bargained for, and Olivia and Toni will find that they need each other, and music, more than they ever could have imagined.

Note: Images and summaries via Goodreads!

[blommis-writes]

I wanted to avoid yapping too much about it but I'm insufferable about live actions and ATLA has always been my comfort show since I was like, 12yo and watching the new episodes religiously every week so here we go:

Not-so-short, not-so-spoiler-free review of the ATLA live action

(there is are two small spoilers ahead, but if you don't wanna see it then don't read unless you've watched the first 5 minutes of the first episode for one, and the second episode for the other)

It's not even about the violence itself, but the way you portray it.

To me, the worst way to portray violence is going out of your way to showing it outright graphically, and with live actions (one of the many reasons I hate them btw) it's also so fucking easy to spot the poor ass writing choices, becuse on the other side you can see the source material where they showed the terrors and violence of genocide in a fucking kids' show without outright showing them (again, kids show) and now that I'm watching the live action I can say that it definitely did not arise the same feelings the animated did.

Because, again, it was about the feelings, the empathy you could feel at the character's own feeling of great despair and loss. And, at the same time, technically speaking, not showing something can be much more effective at telling a story.

A guy I know who works in the industry once actually explained to me how it's a whole ass phenomenon, where they add a lot of violence in the first episodes/season to appeal to what they call "more adult" audiences but are in reality. just. GoT fans. because that show broke so many popularity records at the time, that it became the standard.

The thought process is basically "GoT became successful and won 934746383 awards because they portrayed graphic scenes of r*pe and killings every couple of episodes, so if we want a successful show we need to do the same" and of course, with streaming having ruined everything about the airing of shows, if one is not incredibly successful already from the first day it airs it gets cancelled, so what do you do? Add a whole lot of unnecessarily graphic violence, at least in the first episodes and the first season, so it catches the attention of the "adult audiences".

Like, gimme a valid reason for showing a guy being burned alive exactly (I went back to check) four minutes in the first episode.

"But it's normal they have to change something" and listen. LISTEN. I was of the same mind when news of Sokka's sexism came out, I wanted to give it a chance because as much as media literacy is dead I thought "well but they have good intentions"... boy was I WRONG.

It seems to me that the actual reason for Sokka's sexism being toned down was so that they could make Suki more of a love-struck teen.

There's the actual trope of "girl raised in women's warrior tribe sees a naked, sculpted, male chest for the first time" and I still can't believe it. I was watching it during lunch break in my internship's office and my colleague asked me if I was okay because I externally cringed while watching.

Sokka may not be that sexist anymore, but the writers of the show sure are.

Overall this poor ass writing is the only thing I've had the ick for (for now, I haven't finished the season yet and netflix writers have the power to fuck up even the smallest things), and it's a shame because:

the casting did enough justice to the characters, and even tough the acting level is not, like, god tier or whatever, they seem all so dedicated to the story, besides they are all accurate as POCs and I couldn't have been happier about that

the costume and make up departments did the same (aside the tiny detail of them, I dunno, being scared of dirtying the costumes? thus ending up with them having kind of a "cheap cosplay" vibe but eh, it's camp I guess?)

the CGI is... not really good but not that bad either, even tough you can see they probably spent most of the budget on Appa, Momo, and the animal-mixes (their CGI is good af compared to the other stuff but I wouldn't have it any other way cause they are so fucking cute)

The sets, even while being for the most part so obviously CGI-made (see above), are recreated nicely from the show and what changes have been made were for the better

the soundtrack from what I've heard for now is a mix of the old iconic one and some new stuff, and it fits really well

So yeah, overall the ATLA live action is not that bad at all, the technicalities are at the same level of the One Piece one, but you can definitely see that some (really, really) poor writing choices were taken here, and that can really make a difference in a show that already was not original. (I am TIRED of live actions ffs)

These are some thoughts about the first two episodes, I may or may not write followups as I watch depending on how angry it wil make me.

shoutout to Game of Thrones for setting the standard of "a show is not serious/good unless it has TONS of violence in it", hope you and your shitty finale rot in the tv show hell

[sixstepsaway]

I've decided to worry about the fate of Izzy instead of worrying about the state of the world. I hope he gets his happy ending! On the one hand, it's clear he is meant to be in love with Ed, and the creator described their relationship as another kind of love story. There's clear sympathy for him even if it is not as overt.

On the other hand, he still is an antagonist that gets wrecked constantly and is the butt of every joke he's involved in.

But maybe that's just because it was the first season? They had to introduce and develop Stede, then Ed. Season 2, with Ed and Izzy separated from Stede, seems like the perfect time to explore both of them as characters, and who they were before Stede got involved. The ep10 argument and toe scene were the first scenes where Izzy's view and emotions were spotlighted as something to be taken seriously.

I just want him to be happy with a nice daddy? Is that too much to ask?

-dd anon

I can fully and completely understand your concerns.

I've seen some people say the real Israel Hands is who Captain Hook was based on, which makes me worried about further maiming, and I've seen people talk about how historically it's said Blackbeard shot Izzy? Which also gives me concerns.

That said, Izzy is Izzy not Israel, which is immediately an anachronism, I believe (I checked Wiki and the only mention of 'Izzy' is in regards to OFMD), and he's not sixteen and so on.

On top of that, in regards to Izzy I am regularly reminding myself of several things:

Vico and Con's relationship and how much Vico wants Izzy and Jim to be friends. If Izzy and Jim are friends, that completely shifts the narrative in Izzy's favor.

How much we all love Con and Izzy. They are paying attention. Taika saves fanart to his phone. David Jenkins is always retweeting people talking about the show. Vico reads fanfiction. Con retweets so much fanart and commentary on Izzy. They all know we're into Izzy, and from what I can tell our enjoyment of Izzy is a lot louder than the antis. Plus, when the antis are yelling about homophobia and racism, David Jenkins gets to turn to his diverse writing room full of queer and poc and go, "Eh? Did I fuck this up?" and get "No, no, we did not," in response, which I am positive is the reaction he gets.

The veritable shit ton of characters who were introduced in shows with every intention of only being in a couple of episodes, who came back or got to stay and develop further solely because of the fan appeal. In fact, this is a TV tropes page talking about popularity being power, and although it also includes "the writers liked him way too much", a lot of it does talk about things like this.

(Coulson should have stayed dead, they made him into a totally horrifying war crime committing character in AOS whose actions were always fine because he was The Good Guy, but my opinions about the shitshow that is AOS are not what's being discussed here.)

The one I always focus on though is Spike from Buffy, because of a couple of particular points:

Here's what TV Tropes says about him: "British vampire who served as the villain for early Season 2. Was planned to die, but his popularity saved him." Another point, further on: "Ascended Extra: Like Anya, he was originally conceived to be a one-shot Monster of the Week. However, due to The Anointed One's actor having a growth spurt which made it difficult to pull off a convincing immortal child, he ended up being rewritten into the Season 2 Disc-One Final Boss. Eventually, he became a Breakout Villain too, being so popular that he joined the main cast (first on Buffy then on Angel) and ultimately growing into one of the most iconic characters in Buffyverse." This also means Anya was the same! And this one: "Breakout Villain: Joss originally intended for him to be killed off midway through the second season, but Spike ended up so popular with audiences that he changed his mind."

Joss Whedon did not like Spike. Whedon liked Xander because he was the nice guy character (I still love Xander, but I can totally see the complaints that are made about him, and I can see why Whedon loved him above all others, and I can see why this is utterly fucked up. Fuck Joss Whedon.) but hated Spike and hated that everyone - especially the female, or perceived-female by Whedon - preferred Spike as a love interest over Angel, Riley, and even Xander. It pissed him off. But the audience power was so strong, he still let Spike stick around and kept writing him.

Also, to be fair, the fact he's English ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I can factor that in too. "All bad guys are English," says TV. "NOT THIS ONE," says the fans, cuddling the worst of the worst to their chest (which neither Izzy nor Spike are, but it makes a good joke).

Writers like to please their audiences while staying true to their notion. And David Jenkins also likes pleasing his cast and taking their thoughts into account.

Now, I know there's been a spate recently of writers getting mad when audiences figure out where their plots are going and fucking it all up to make a point (Game of Thrones, Westworld Season 2, multiple others but I don't tend to watch those because they fuck me off) but I don't see David Jenkins being like that.

Game of Thrones and Westworld also saw themselves as, like, high brow TV, the kind that Smart People watch. I don't think David Jenkins sees OFMD like that. Despite the fact most of the OFMD fans are pretty smart people who really enjoy it and are currently analyzing it to death and back.

I don't think David Jenkins seems to feel that he's somehow better than the people who watch the show, and thusly we should not be capable of figuring out his plans, and also our opinions are null. I really don't.

I agree that 1x10 could easily be a shift in how to view Izzy, and I hope you're right!

And, finally:

I just want him to be happy with a nice daddy? Is that too much to ask?

Man, do I hope not.

[thekatebridgerton]

A couple of Asks ago an anon mentioned that they wouldn’t want Sophie to be casted as a POC because it would open up too many sensitive things like the white savior trope and the oppressed POC girl getting saved by the white guy. And I was pretty chill about it because at the time I hadn’t gotten trough my re reading Phase of An offer From a Gentleman. 

I don’t generally backtrack on what I’ve said in this blog, but but after reading AOFAG I think the Anon had a point. Not about the representation part but about how uncomfortable seeing Sophie as a POC might be for some people. 

Sophie's tragic backstory was literal slavery, and in a way I agree that POC shouldn’t be type casted for those kind of roles anymore, Hollywood has done it for ages and they need to stop. If I'm being honest, it would be personally triggering for me to see Sophie played by a Black or Indigenous actress. 

Again like I mentioned in the ask that time, it would take an actress with oscar winning Brandi level acting skills to compensate for the fact that out of all the characters in Bridgerton Sophie is the one who suffers the most. And make no mistake I also would support the show if they do cast a POC because if it would mean they decided not to suggarcoat or gloss over those racial and societal implications of Sophie’s abusive situation. But it would hurt me to see it. 

This is why most likely Bridgerton will not chose a Black or Indigenous person to play Sophie, Shondaland doesn’t give roles with Sophie’s kind of backstory to POC and I consider it a good thing for reason listed here:

Her character is the bastard daughter of a married man, grew up in an abusive household, unloved by her father and psychologically tormented by her stepmother and step sisters, who later turn her into an unpaid maid (slave). She's propositioned, almost SA and her first impression of Benedict is that of a man who disregards her suffering and treats it as something that should be swept under the rug. 

(And that's only the beginning of An offer From a Gentleman. Which by the way is a beautiful book after you get over the first pain train chapters)

Casting Sophie as a POC would realistically  create an enormous amount of backlash. Actually I'm sure that casting Sophie Beckett is going to be a very hard job, whichever ethnicity she is, will cause outrage from the racial demographic the actress belongs to. Because of reasons above.  

An Offer From a Gentleman is probably the Bridgerton book that touches the most on very real societal issues that warrant attention in 2021+. And I’m looking forward to seeing how Shodaland and Netflix handle it, because I’m just beginning to realize what a potential Hiroshima Benedict’s season could be if it’s not handled well. And I do not envy them. 

Still I’ll love my girl Sophie, whoever she is casted as. She’s the bravest, most hopeful, lovely Bridgerton girl. #JusticeForSophie4k

tagging @crabapple10 and @scfi123 because what you guys said got me thinking a lot.

[fucktheroyals]

You know after reading and reading and reading peoples theories and the meta from before the spn finale aired and the meta writers reactions to the finale I think I have a theory of my own. We don't have any answers tho, so this is pure speculation. If you wanna add something to support or discredit any of this that's cool but there's too many things floating around. Know I dont have proof for this conclusion at all. A lot of what I say is just guesses based on previous facts.

This all came together in my head when I realized how much this finale REEKS of the original producers and who the show was originally for. It REEKS of Robert Singer. Like if the execs started saying they didn't want it, Robert Singer was the one pushing that the story was about the brothers. That kinda thing.

Then, I was thinking of the problems in this episode and it struck me these are all of Supernatural biggest issues and to be honest all of it feels completely deliberate.

Take the sexism for example, Supernatural in it's later seasons largely out grew this, we have Jody, Rowena, Donna, Charlie, Mary, Claire (and even a wayward sisters pilot with MORE women/girls) all making regular appearances. They're mainly good characters and mostly aren't there to hurt our boys. Rowena, of course, is the one outlier being very about herself but it's clear she still cares for them, I mean its part of her development. But they're all real, with character flaws just like everyone else. (And we have Death too and she was POC 😭 THANK GOD)

Now look at the earlier half of Spn, we have Ellen and Jo, who's appearances were far in between. There's Bela in season 3, recurring for quite a bit (5 eps), but she is a character that is only there for herself, definitely not found family (unlike Ellen & Jo), and she's got more episodes in season 3 than Ellen and Jo in season 2 who aren't seen again til season 5. The "fans" send in hate mail after hate mail to try to get these characters off, and eventually they are. Then there's Ruby who's character stayed for a whole two seasons and was a largely recurring character. Why does she get to say so long? She's a plot device. She's supposed to be there to betray Sam. She has to stay (plus Jared obviously likes her). But she's not just a character the writers like writing about. Same with Lilith. Obviously not as recurring but still a plot device. Did they get hate mail tho? You can bet on it. Why? because tHeY'rE gOnNa PuSh ThE bOyS (Dean and Sam) aPaRt ThE sHoW iS aBoUt ThE bOyS oNlY. Without even thinking about the hate mail, just notice how large the difference is from how women are seen in the earlier seasons to the later seasons. Misha got tons of hate mail too for being a character that could split up the boys (probably only being allowed to say because he a man, thanks sexist producers and execs).

Only after Castiel was killed off and then Castiel fans successfully (thank you guys) got him back on the show did the hate mail largely simmer, which means female character's were allowed to stay! Which has lead us to a show with a good amount of female characters. But can you imagine having to kill characters off time and time again because people keep complaining that the show is "only about the boys." Fun times really.

So now we get to this final and we see sexism. But it wasn't just the plain old regular sexism you find in the earlier days of spn. Because now, there ARE women to talk about, talk to. But this episode was DESOLATE women wise, unless they were used for plot (which is also sexist!). Small scenes, they're barely there. Women gets her tongue cut out. Random women from s1 gets killed. Sam doesn't SPEAK of Eileen. Nothing. No mention of any female characters from the boys mouths unless they were from/in this episode itself. That's WIERD. I know we've all said it. But that goes beyond forgetting about characters. I mean its SAM'S GIRLFRIEND for Christ's sake. There is NO REASON they couldn't have said Eileen's name. Notice how Sam's wife is just... faceless. This is literally an age old sexist trope. Like... one of the things about bringing Mary back to life for s12+ is that it takes this trope... of basically a generic mother, and gives her life and feelings, whether you like them or not, they're real feelings. They said Mary isn't just a mom she's a person. Mary's existence in the later half of spn is to fix this kind of female tropes that fall upon her character, to not let these her stay a 2 dimensional character. They said we should know she's more than just the mom who tried to save her kid. Do that is the exact opposite of Sam getting a nameless, faceless wife. The sexism of the old spn wasn't just brought back, it was completely amplified. It wasn't just accidental or some exec "fixing" the story it was DELIBRATE. Whoever wrote that, didn't do ALL OF THAT by accident. Because an exec or a producer who doesn't see the flaws in old supernatural isn't going to write it that deliberately.

Let's bring it back to s10 when Charlie was killed (singer was mainly to blame). Dead in the bathtub, age old classic of burying ur gays. If you were here you know people never let Supernatural live that down. THEY KNOW what bury ur gays means. Hell, Robbie Thompson left because of Charlie's death and you think the writers don't know what it means? I mean both Bobo Berens (especially) and Steve Yockey's careers are centered around LGBT+ storytelling and you think they don't know? They know. They know.

And Dean wasn't just apart of the bury your gays trope, it is so far BEYOND that. Dean being killed on a rusty nail/screw, the tongues ripped out, things that seemed to be meant for other people. Jensen's acting in the last two episodes was giving us "DEAN RECIPROCATES" but no one ever actually saying it. I think it's clear that Dean was killed for being Bi. They didn't address it for a reason, they just silenced him. His narrative was supposed to be about letting him be HIM for the first time, to say what his feelings are instead of having them miscommunicated, and instead of doing that, they just silenced him. And the more we look at this scene the more horrific it gets. The more it's a complete slap in the face and it's supposed to be. Some guy who knows nothing about the LGBT can't write a scene this horrific.

Some guy who knows nothing about Dean couldn't write a scene that deconstructs all of Dean's character development and gives Dean his worst nightmare. I MEAN DEAN WANTED TO LIVE HIS LIFE! THEY DIDNT HIDE THAT JOB APPLICATION (or whatever job related thing that was) IN THERE FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES THEY WANT YOU TO KNOW THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST SITUATION. Dean isn't Barney from HIMYM. If you watched HIMYM then you'll know Barney went from being a stereotypical ladies man and treating women terribly to being in love with a women and treating her right and working hard for it. The last episode of HIMYM (why its so bad) Barney's character development is thrown out and he's back to being a stereotypical ladies man. You don't need to know Barney's character very much to do that.

To kill Dean during a hunt his father never finished, to not have anyone at his funeral, to have Dean die young like his life didn't matter. Those are Dean's worst fears and you'd only truly know that if you watched the gin episode in s3, where they are basically laid out for you. You HAVE to know Dean's character to tear him apart like this.

This episode took all the core elements of the show and did a complete 180° the name of the episode itself is "Carry on" and Dean and Sam very much did not carry on. Sam grieving his entire life so that he good get to heaven and see Dean again. Dean being ready to live his life, despite the enormous pitfalls and learning to love himself only to be killed. "Family don't end with blood." Um.... it did in that episode either literally with Dean's death or you know BECAUSE NONE OF THEIR FOUND FAMILY WAS THERE. Not Jack, Not Cas, Not Eileen, Not Donna, Not Charlie, Not Jody, Not Claire... on and on we go. No one was there, nobody was even mentioned. Dean's funeral, no one even called that we know of. It was just Sam and Dean. Sam and Dean. And Bobby. Don't forget Bobby. But yeah Sam and Dean.

That's what the show is about right, the brothers.

Except it's not anymore. It hasn't been for years.

Cas not being there was deafening but it brought us to a major point. Becky. Becky's telling us about the terrible ending.

And many of us are wondering why would they literally tell us this is the worst ending and then... make it the ending.

Now before we move on, it very apparent many of you think Dabb doesn't ship Deancas. And Dabb doesn't care about the characters.

Say what you will about any plot holes in his writing, the point he is VERY GOOD at writing the characters, and giving us good ones.

Why do we know Dabb ships Deancas? (ill say when its cowrote, other wise its not) cowrote ep 8.02 - purgatory "I prayed to you, Cas, every night" "Cas, Buddy, I need you." "I have a price on my head, and I've been trying to stay one step ahead of them, to – to keep them away from you." 8.08 Hunteri Heroici - Cas helps them hunt! 😊❤ Dean & Cas have a serious convo about why Cas doesn't want to see/go to heaven. 8.22 Dean's mad at Cas. Sam's explanation of why Dean should be easy on Cas: "It's Cas." Dean then points out how he'd knife anybody else if they did what Cas did. 9.10 - Cas comforts Dean when Dean can't take seeing Sam (Gadreel) being tortured anymore. Also tons of Cas. 9.20 (bloodlines) - Canonical couple parallel "I was there, where were you" 9.22 The angels make Cas choose between them and killing Dean and he "gave up an entire army for one guy" 10.09 Claire's reintroduction. Cas heavy ep. DeanCas date. 10.22 THE PRISONER - u know the ep where Dean beats the shit out of Cas but loves him enough to not kill him.

We COULD keep going but I think I've made my point. If Robert Singer is the guy that is like "the show is about Sam and Dean only" Andrew Dabb is the DeanCas shipper. And you could even say a Cas stan.

Notice! How in s13 for SEVEN episodes we have a story that revolves around Dean's grief about losing Cas. Notice! How often the stories in all these seasons have a focus on their relationship. THAT is Andrew Dabb. If it weren't for him doing that, we wouldn't be able to easily say after Dean's lack of a response to Cas' confession, that Dean reciprocates.

To me, when I was (binge) watching s12 for the first time, I thought damn this is really got a lot of DeanCas. So I went to look at who was in charge, who was writing. I saw Andrew Dabb, associated him with Deancas episodes, saw all the new writers, Bobo, and then I saw that Yockey is known for same sex stories and it clicked. Dabb assembled a team to give us Destiel. THAT WAS IN SEASON 12!!!!!!!!

The amount of people saying he's homophobic flabbergast me. Open your eyes! That isn't what's going on.

Imagine making a show and trying to right all the wrongs of Supernatural. Imagine trying to write the greatest love story ever told and you have the entire season planned out for it to end off beautifully, it may possibly be your greatest achievement when it's done and then boom. someone comes in and tells you you aren't allowed to make Dean bi or make destiel endgame, after he was most probably already given the go ahead.

Sure. You could imply he's bi or into cas still in a way. Still make nice-ish ending. just give everyone what the kinda want.

Or you could scrap the last season, nothing close to a canonical bisexual Dean Winchester or Deancas endgame in site. People can be done with it be happy with the show, continue to live their lives in ignorance as to how close they were to Canon destiel.

OR you can lead everyone to the very closest you can get them to what you were aiming for and then show everyone the ugly truth and reality. Light it all on fire. Burn the show to the ground in your wake. Try your darnedest to making these people's (the people saying no) pockets suffer. Show us, the audience, what happened. Show us what this show really is.

I've seen people talk about the ending being changed during covid but I dont think that happened. I think what happened was Dabb already had this season planned out before it even started. Obviously the details were wobbly but it was all lead up to this ending. Destiel endgame, Canon Bisexual Dean, whatever it was. They were ready to write the greatest love story ever told and then someone shut it down.

Imagine the pain that must have caused them to be told no when they already said yes. They must have been so excited to give this to us.

I think someone (some producers) told him what this show is "really" about. The brothers. Can you imagine, after being told no, some kinda bullshit like this is said to you: "Why aren't you bringing it back to the brothers, Andrew? that's what the shows about. What with all this homosexual stuff, you know the audience won't like that. Not really." Imagine the original producers pushing this kind of view on you. "You know when we started it was Sam and Dean. It should end with Sam and Dean." That kinda sounds like someone huh? huh.

So why give us a nice acceptable finale, when you can take every problem Supernatural's had either up front or behind the scenes and create a finale so incredibly bad that people don't want to watch it anymore.

Someone made a good point about how Sam was originally supposed to be the main focus (this isn't to put any hate on Sam or Jared). Dean and Sam are the main characters but Sam was supposed to be the focus and for Dean to have become the focus, must have annoyed the producers because... well here we are. They wouldn't listen to Jensen. The producers liked this ending. Jensen's opinion didn't matter to them.

In some ways, if this is really what happened, it can be seen as childish from Dabb. To hurt all of us like that. Yes, he's hurting the producers, the execs, the cw. But to hurt us? Yeah it stings.

But in other ways, if this is really what happened, this is Dabb showing us the muck and gunk under the shiny surface. The hate for Misha. The hidden hate for Jensen. The underlying sexism. The underlying homophobia. The people REALLY in charge don't care about us, they just want our money. He needed to open our eyes and free us, at least free the people that he was writing for. The people he sees that care about this show.

This is the ending the powers that be wanted and its a big fuck you for a reason. I dont think this is Dabb spitting in our faces for loving this show, I think this is him trying to get revenge for us.

But from here, you can see it how u want it. If this is really what happened, I'm not in charge of your emotions, if you wanna be mad be mad if you wanna be grateful be grateful. And you don't have to believe me either I said this is speculation.

Also, as for all of the rumors like there being shots to the confession scene that we didn't see, which Jensen himself implied, I think that might have been a last ditch effort to canonized DeanCas but obviously it was cut. Like the name change was pretty clear. As for Misha possibly having shot some stuff for 20 I dont know what to tell you. If it's true I dont know where the blame would lie.

I do think however, that if all this was the case, the writers were prepared to become villians here. I mean they told us the writers were villians with Chuck right? So. Who knows what went down so they could give us such a vile ending. It could've been the producers or the writers, who truly knows. I do think tho that people we "trust" did some pretty shitty things to push the narrative in certain directions so now one would see this as the actual ending that was coming.

So again do with my SPECULATION what you will. This was in no way meant to put Dabb on a pedestal or anything. Just meant to give a bit of perspective.

(Also Jensen didn't unfollow Dabb recently he was already unfollowed for years)

[ulfie-by-osmosis]

4, 5, 11, 17, 29, 30

send me the playlist please i love u thank u

Sent it, love you too etc

4. If you could wake up tomorrow in the SPN world, would you? Why or why not?

I don't have much of a reasoning for this one apart from that I find the characters and mechanisms (like purgatory and tricksters, and how some of the supernatural things work) compelling. I would study that stuff until it killed me. Also the poc and rowena and eileen and I would talk shit about others so much Yes, I would wake up there if I could.

5. Samjess, Sameileen, Samruby, Samcas, or someone else?

Oh, man. Can I advocate all? I'm gonna advocate for all.

Saileen/sameileen because they're so good for each other. They both care so much and it's like. eileen deserves someone who's all blushy and protective of her even though she doesn't NEED that, and sam deserves to (and does!) care about someone who doesn't always express a need for softness. also they're both so insane if you look at them for more than five seconds. perfect match really. Also, they're a T4T bi4bi couple.

Samruby for the exact opposite reasons. No thoughts here, just two people who could not be worse for each other. bloodfreak and the OG gaslightgatekeepgirlboss, plus knifeplay. Also it's just really funny when ruby cracks jokes about murdered nuns and god, and sam tries not to spontaneously combust.

Samjess is sweet in its own way, I guess, but I can't really imagine much for this pairing? It was literally only there for one episode. Very formative, though. You gotta like it for the right reasons, e.g. "I was dead from the moment we said hello"

Samcas/sastiel: soulfisting. that's all I'm gonna say. they're queerplatonic to me Samwena is also one of my fave dynamics, but I'm not too fond of it as a purely romantic relationship

TL;DR - I like them all for different reasons, but if I had to pick one, it'd be saileen (one of the few good things that came out of dabb era tbh)

11. If you HAD to get rid of one member of TFW, who would it be?

Dean, easy.

JOKING. don't make me choose, man.

17. What’s an aspect of SPN people often point to as a flaw that you really enjoy?

The dark lighting in early seasons? Yeah you need to double your screen brightness, and it definitely would have been a problem while the show aired on TV, but at least there's some contrast. some vibe. some fucking horror. Okay that's not that unpopular, so I'll talk about the whole... angel population situation going on in heaven. It's the direct consequence of Cas' s6 actions, and its effects are felt throughout the rest of the show. Intentional or not, I love the idea of this one being's ruthless quest for free will backfiring so badly precisely BECAUSE he's handling the concept on such a large scale for the first time. And he feels the consequences for so long. that does two things: a) make way for a very interesting dynamic in heaven (not explored well enough imo but it's There in the show), and b) imply the kind of explosive power even the desire to "change the system" can have on something like heaven, which in spn functions almost entirely on faith as far as I remember?

29. You can cut one character at any point of the show. Who would it be AND what would happen as a result?

Oh, just one? Okay, ketch or gadreel I guess. Let's go with Ketch. As a result half the fuckery of s12 vanishes and Magda Peterson gets to her aunt's house healthy and happy. If it's gadreel, then half the fuckery of s9 vanishes and Kevin gets to kill the Winchesters for his health and sanity.

30. Make up a fact about a character and convince me it’s true.

Charlie Bradbury hacked her way into Bobby's old computer, found a bunch of disgustingly sweet photos of him and Rufus (and one of him kissing this other guy in a priest outfit looking into the camera??), and pestered the old man into sharing gay escapades from back in the day. they're besties now <3

[iholli]

Look, okay... No one is gonna like this lmao but I'm going to say it.

Just because "they paved the way," does not mean "we have to forgive everything they did wrong because that's all we have."

Everyone, I mean EVERYONE, is saying this because Lumity is canon now. btw, haven't watched it yet, it's not on Disney+ and that's what I have, and I don't mind TOH spoilers. Anyway.

And Lumity isn't *just* canon-- both characters are well developed, it's pretty healthy, it's really cute, and it's right in the middle of the series-- so we get to see it develop!

But. *but.*

"Steven Universe made this possible! LOK made this possible! She-Ra made this possible! We have to accept all these as perfect because they made representation on screen possible!"

No. We don't. And if you thought, with constructive criticism, about it, you'd know that we do not, actually, have to just roll over and accept the terrible excuses for predecessors Lumity had. Okay?

I'll start with LOK. god. where do I start. I watched ATLA and LOK back to back for the first time. I guess that was a mistake because after the series I just could not put down, LOK was like a slap in the face. Uninteresting male characters there to be the love interests for Korra to go back and forth with. Even more uninteresting female side character that I would, frankly, rather have been the star. And the main character...oh god. Korra is literally the worst, most hated character troupe I have. She's already perfect, a complete overconfident jackass, and gives no shits about anyone as long as she gets to do what she wants. Sorry. Someone had to say it. It's why I can't stand Captain Marvel either. And she's the Avatar, in fact, the worst one ever. She *loses the connection to all the past Avatars,* for crying out loud. And when she's thrown in the dirt, powerless, helpless, she does... Absolutely nothing to change. Cuts her hair, I guess. Saves the world, I guess, but she's still just *so. unlikeable.* And after this constant back and forth between the two guys [I barely remember the names, but I do like Bolin] she's... Suddenly dating Asami? I mean-- there was some hints and stuff leading up to it, so I can't really say I have a problem with the ship. In fact, the ship itself is fine. But literally everything else about the trainwreck that was LOK-- not fine.

Moving on. Steven Universe. Which I have not seen, definitely do not care to. I could barely finish the first episode. To get to the point, everyone worships this show for all the representation and how awesome it is. But... What about all the issues? The racism? The abusive relationships? The racism? "But they had the wlw wedding on screen!" Okay, that's great! As far as I can tell, the ship is fine! I mean, it's a little sus that the couple spend the entire show save five minutes fused into one person, but the ship is fine. But you can't just ignore everything else that happened, considering-- again, the racism, the abusive stuff or whatever the deal is with Lapis, the literal Nazi redemption thing ["but they had a bad day" is not an excuse, sorry]... One ship in this whole mess doesn't make the rest of the series flawless. And, apparently, the wedding wasn't the scandal everyone tries to claim. Considering there's like, four seasons, a movie, and another series after that episode.

Anyway. Finally. She-Ra. We all know how this goes. Because, obviously, this is C*tradora we're talking about. Do I have to say it? We got four well made seasons of the cat being mentally and physically abusive towards the person she claims to love, her victim finally choosing to stand up for herself and be her own person, and that person then ends up with her abuser in the last shitty season. Not to mention throwing the disabled, poc characters under the bus, or ignoring literally everything else the cat did before that moment of confession. which was gross in and of itself. "But my wlw rep!" my dudes, Glimmer was right fucking there. End of story.

The point is, you can't just hero worship these shows because "they paved the way for Lumity." It's fine to say something like, well, these couples happened, so we could have something like this now. Something good. Something that wasn't forced, that didn't involve one or both characters being boring or, worse, toxic, that didn't involve the rest of the show being awful in one way or another. TOH is an all around awesome series. It deals with all kinds of issues, without being racist, or ableist, or apologetic to any number of problematic characters.

Do you really want parents to see something like LOK, where the main character solves everything with aggression, or SU, which forgives actual Nazis for no reason, or She-Ra, which pairs a victim with her abuser-- is that what you want representation to look like? Because if I saw that, and saw that this is what the LGBT+ wants to say is good...well. hopefully you can do the math.

It's fine to acknowledge where the fight started. But don't pretend like the origins were flawless. Don't just roll over and accept whatever comes your way. Be critical. Demand better. You deserve better. You deserve healthy, developed relationships, without forgiving the problematic for no reason.

Update;; so this is like well over a year old and keeps getting notes for some reason, I still hate all the above series. That's not really the point of the post. Y'all still need to recognize that these are big issue series, that there are way better things out there to point to for representation, and that's all I was going for. We deserve better. Stop accepting shit that barely passes as showing representation at all just because it was the starting point. Or at least stop holding it on such a damn pedestal.